Refugee Camp, Franklin Square, 1907. Courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

Update: I’ve added an interior picture to the bottom of the post.

Earthquake refugee cottages, or “shacks” were built by the Department of Lands and Buildings of the Relief Corporation to house refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

5,610 cottages were constructed to house over 16,000 San Franciscans in 11 refugee camps in locations including Dolores Park, Washington Square, Precita Park, Portsmouth Square, and today’s Park-Presidio Boulevard.

Union carpenters built three main sizes of cottages between September 1906 and March 1907. Cottages had cedar-shingle roofs, fir floors and redwood walls. All were painted green to better blend into the parks and public squares in which they were erected.

When the camps began closing in August 1907, refugees hauled cottages to private lots, and often cobbled together two or more to form larger residences. Of the 5,343 moved from the camps only a handful are certified to still be standing.

Earthquake cottages came back in the public eye in the early 1980s, when “shack activist” Jane F. Cryan began lobbying for their preservation. Her efforts created City Landmark #171, a complex of four shacks at 1227 - 24th Avenue, and helped rescue two others that are on public display in the Presidio of San Francisco.

Learn more about the 1906 Earthquake Shacks here.

Restored Back of Shack

Front of Shack Restoration

Shack Floor Restoration

March 19, 2006, celebrating the restoration of Shack One.

Shacks on the Presidio

Interior Restored Shack

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North side (sunny side) view showing solar panel and rainwater tank

David Bell from Australia has posted his story about his little house over at our Tiny House Forum. I know not everyone gets over to the forum so I ask David to let me share his pictures and story here. I’ll let David tell you “the rest of the story.”

Hi from my tiny 100sq ft house in Birchip, Victoria, Australia. My house is L shaped with a total floor area of less than 100 sq ft (10sq meters). Above the main arm of the L shape is a mezzanine floor where I sleep. The smaller arm of the L shape is my little kitchenette and it is open to the ceiling above. I can roll over in my bed and see what is cooking down below.

I started off with the idea of an L shaped building because I like having a little space off the side. I limited the size of the building to less than 100 sq ft because anything larger would have required a council building permit.

Through careful planning of my building I find that I can fit all my treasures (books, DVDs, and works of art) and still have room to relax.
The secret of living comfortably in such a small space is to have a recliner chair where I can lie back and dream, or sleep, or watch my movies.

The house has a single 85 watt solar panel, which powers my lights and radio, and charges up my mobile phone.

View of wind driven fan which cools my sleeping area in the roof.

I live in a very hot part of a very hot country so I was extremely conscious of heating and cooling issues (cooling moreso than heating.) I designed a series of vents that encourage drafts to flow through the house on hot days. One of these vents is just above my bed and includes a wind driven roof fan. I also invested in double glazed windows to maintain heat retention.

I live on a half acre of land which cost me $7500 Australian (This when a block of land in Melbourne or any other big city is at least $100,000.) I built the tiny house myself, including the plastering and tiling, the electrical installation and the plumbing and all up it cost me about $10,000. So my total investment in a truly lovely little home is less than $20,000. Yet the people who think the city is great are paying at least $300,000 for a home and spending their whole lives attempting to pay for it.

Eastern view showing even tinier shed near house, colour coordinated of course.

The credit crunch matters little to me. I live like a free man in a tiny house which I built with my own hands and which costs nothing in terms of bills (electricity, water etc).

My inspiration for this way of life was Henry David Thoreau who in his classic book “Walden” pointed out how senseless is the life that is burdened by large houses, and large debts, and has little time to appreciate the natural world that is all around us.

A tiny house is the first step to escaping the charge that “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”.

Ladder leading to my bedroom is near the door.

Yes, the inside is brightly coloured. My inspiration for this was the movie “Frida” about the life of the Mexican artist (and wife of Diego Rivera) Frida Kalo. I loved the fact that her house and garden were so vivid. I intend to create a similar palette of celebration here in the sunburnt country. I love vivid colours and hope to turn my whole property into an explosion of colour which is a celebration of life.

Living Area

Note the electrical nerve centre near the kitchenette (which is yet to be painted)

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Alexander's Small Cabin

By Christina Nellemann

Alexander of the Small Cabin website has created a nice little community of cabin lovers and builders. His tiny cabin in Bancroft, Ontario, Canada is the quintessential getaway. It is efficient and utilizes the outdoors as much as possible. The cabin is 8×12 feet with large windows for extra light. The total cost of the cabin came to around $1,200 and took about two weeks to build.

Alexander goes over the step-by step process of building your own tiny cabin in a remote area. He discusses electrical issues and being off the grid. He talks about how to keep down your building costs as well as how to protect items in your cabin from the outdoors. Alexander also brings up good points about site selection, planning, water issues, street or highway noise and how to run power tools without conventional utility hookups.

The Small Cabin interior

The website also includes a discussion forum frequented by cabin builders and dreamers. On the forum, I came across the blog of Wayne and Margy Lutz who live most of their time in a floating cabin in coastal B.C.

If a tiny house is still your dream home but you are only able to live in it part time, this website contains a helpful bit of information if you want to build your own little retreat away the everyday world.

The Lutz's Floating Cabin

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